Hellknights of the Last Age
In the last century of Dorginscell, these were the Lord Hellknights who ruled over their own domains. Order of the Chain Hell Knights of the Chain value social order and responsibility, seeking to root out anarchists and fugitives. They have reputations as relentless hunters who drag lawbreakers away in chains. These Hell Knights keep meticulous count of the number of criminals they’ve brought to justice; they never abandon the pursuit of a fugitive, and they believe everyone has a specific, crucial role to play in society. Leader: Chain Lord Pedrikain Symbol: hand wrapped in chains Members: guards, sleuths, trackers, victims of outlaws Armour Features: lock-and-chain design, manacle-like gauntlets, helms reminiscent of iron prisoners’ masks Favoured Weapon: flail Reckoning: Crush your limbs with tightened chains. Gain a +2 bonus on combat maneuver checks when attempting to disarm, grapple, or trip opponents. Tenants * I will remove those who create barriers to the people’s future greatness. * My desires are secondary to the good of my order, my nation, and my people. They will not distract me from my tasks. * I will remove the foes of the people, both those who call themselves enemies and who call themselves friends. * My quarry and my captives are my charges. I am responsible for their deeds, their lives, and their deaths. * Those in my charge deserve neither mercy nor cruelty. * I will warden first and judge second. I will uphold the law, no matter the cost. BOONS 1: Taken Alive (Ex) You are an expert in hunting your quarry and capturing it alive. You take no penalty on attack rolls for using a flail to deal nonlethal damage. Additionally, while performing your reckoning, you can focus on understanding one specific individual. For the next 24 hours, you gain a +4 bonus on Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks that relate to noticing, seeing through the disguises of, interrogating others about the location of, or tracking that individual, or any activity directly related to doing so. 2: Pierce Disguise (Sp) You are suspicious of everyone, and your wariness grants you senses others do not have. You can use true seeing as a spell-like ability for a number of minutes each day equal to half your character level. These minutes do not need to be used consecutively, but they must be used in 1-minute increments. 3: True Identities (Su) You are not easily fooled by those who would hide their true natures. You gain a +4 bonus on Will saving throws to disbelieve illusions. Three times per day, when you successfully disbelieve an illusion that has a duration of longer than instantaneous (normally or using true seeing), you can attempt to dispel the illusion as a free action. Treat this as a targeted dispel, as per the spell dispel magic, but targeting only illusions and with your caster level equal to your character level. Order of the Gate Order of the Gate Hell Knights seek to curb and prevent lawlessness through magic and manipulation. They have reputations as mysterious, emotionless, and sometimes cruel magic-users. Many are convinced that the Order of the Gate’s Hell Knights are spying on them or already know their secrets. Sometimes this fear is true, as the order’s members prefer preventing crime to punishing it and often use manipulation, information-gathering, and spying to further their agenda. Leaders: Estivil and Lasaivish Sharsdark, Twin Lords of the Gate Symbol: infernal eye staring out from a swirling portal Members: devil worshippers, intellectuals, planar-blooded outcasts, spellcasters Armour Features: helm with a vortex-like pattern, crimson robes Favoured Weapon: dagger Reckoning: Etch complex symbols of penitence into your flesh with a dagger. Gain a +4 bonus on Will saving throws to resist divination spells and spell-like abilities. Tenants * Lawlessness is a failing of the leaderless and unwatched. I will mind those who would go unnoticed. * My power is a gift, not to me, but to the world. It is my responsibility to use it to forge greatness. * I will pursue perfection, ever knowing that I will truly master nothing. * Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. I will hone my iron judgment upon the stones of experience and worldliness. * There is cleverness in chaos. There is deceit in ruin. I will never underestimate either. * My face must be forged of iron. It must never crack, regardless of the circumstance. BOONS 1: Focus of Mind (Su) You gain one gaze ability from the list detailed as part of the assiduous gaze class feature of the Hell Knight signifer prestige class. You can choose only a gaze that a Hell Knight signifer could choose at 4th level. If you already have the assiduous gaze ability, you can select one additional gaze. Additionally, if you do not already have one, you receive the mask described in the prestige class’s signifer mask class feature, as well as the benefits of the Hell Knight signifer prestige class’s signifer mask supernatural ability; you must be wearing a signifer mask to use this ability. 2: Armored Spellcasting (Ex) You have mastered the delicate and yet taxing art of casting spells in your Hell Knight armor. You can ignore the spell failure chance of any armor with “Hell Knight” in the name. 3: Unfathomable Gaze (Sp) You are able to focus your staunch Hell Knight training into a spell-like ritual that allows you to glean information that could be vital to your mission of enforcing the law. Once per day, while wearing a signifer mask, you can use vision as a spell-like ability, treating your total character level as your caster level. Unlike casting the spell normally, you are not fatigued after this ability is complete, as your training allows you to shake off what might tire lesser individuals. Order of the Godclaw Order of the Godclaw Hell Knights enforce law with a crusader’s zeal, going where they’re needed most in the fight against the forces of chaos. They know no bounds or borders in the quest for absolute order. To Hell Knights of the Godclaw, the cause of order is a holy mandate for which they will travel far to battle chaos in lands that know little of civilization. To others, these Hell Knights’ faith is likely inexplicable—some believe the members of the order are experts in all five individual faiths or even that they are heretics. Leader: Thrave Grandar, Lord Godclaw Symbol: five-pointed iron star Members: crusaders, religious zealots Armour Features: breastplate with clawlike vambraces, goat horned helm Favoured Weapon: morningstar Reckoning: Flagellate yourself with a five-tailed lash. Whenever you are the target of a lawful divine caster’s spell that heals hit point damage, you heal 1 additional point per die rolled. Additionally, if you cast divine spells, you can use the holy symbols of some gods (which can’t be named here for legal reasons) interchangeably. Tenants * I will eliminate chaos, whatever its form and wherever it exists, resting only when the world is right. * I will destroy those who root lawlessness in weak hearts and minds. * I will strive to be worthy of not one, but five. * I will seek the great principles behind life, the truths spoken through many voices. * I will be a paragon of order—an unassailable example that others might follow. * I will commit what I don’t know or can’t understand to the judgment of the five. BOONS 1: Pentamic Zeal (Sp) You can cast bane, bless, tireless pursuitAPG, or wrathAPG as a spell-like ability three times per day, with your effective CL equal to your character level. 2: Tireless Judgment (Su) Three times per day as a swift action, you can gain a +3 sacred bonus on attack rolls, and a +6 sacred bonus to confirm critical hits. At 20th level, you can use this ability four times per day, and the bonuses increase to +4 and +8. Otherwise, this functions as the inquisitor’s justice judgmentAPG. If you already have access to judgments, you can use the justice judgment three times per day (four times at 20th level) without it counting toward your daily uses, or you can add the justice judgment’s effects to another judgment without it counting as a second or third judgment. 3: Blessing of the Five (Su) Once per day as a standard action, you can brandish a holy symbol to heal all living creatures in a 30-foot-radius burst centered on you. Creatures in the area heal 10d6 points of damage. You can choose up to three creatures in the area that are not healed. Additionally, if a creature in the area has died within 1 round and this brings its hit point total to a negative amount less than its Constitution score, the creature returns to life and stabilizes. This ability can only revive one creature per use, and a revived creature gains a temporary negative level that lasts for 1 day. This ability cannot be modified using any feats or other abilities that affect channeled energy. Order of the Nail Order of the Nail Hell Knights idealize civilized societies and seek to unite all people in advancing that cultural baseline. In fact, the Order of the Nail’s members preach that anyone who doesn’t embrace their own culture is a criminal and heathen who must be destroyed. The order’s members idealize the lifestyles and challenges of frontier settlers, no matter the displacement, indignation, or cruelty they might visit on those who were there before. Leader: Sabatious Grave, Lord of the Nail Symbol: thick nails forming a sunburst Members: frontiersmen, settlers, victims of barbarian and monster attacks Armour Features: breastplate emblazoned with a fiendish face, horned helm Favoured Weapon: lance or halberd Reckoning: Pierce your flesh with sharp metal. Gain a +4 bonus on Knowledge (geography) checks. Additionally, if you are trained in Knowledge (geography), you automatically succeed at attempts to use that skill to identify a creature’s ethnicity or accent, as long as you are familiar with that ethnicity or accent. Tenants * I will strike against civilization’s foes, braving both thicket and darkness. * I will rid the world of threats to civilization and make it fit for the law to flourish. * I will fear no creature, though the enemies of order are terrible. * I will not be merciful, though the enemies of order may bear familiar guises—and may even be individuals I have considered dear. * I will seek allies and advantage, confounding luck with wisdom. * I will be the face that monsters dread: fierce, sharp, and unflinching. BOONS 1: Domination (Ex) Select a creature type from the ranger favored enemies table. You treat that creature type as your favored enemy, as per the ranger ability. If you choose humanoid (human), you can select an ethnic language or clannish or tribal language (at the GM’s discretion). If you choose an ethnicity, the bonuses on skill checks, weapon attack, and weapon damage rolls increase to +4, but you do not gain any bonuses against other humans. These bonuses stack with any favored enemy bonuses gained from other classes. 2: Identification (Su) Three times per day as a swift action, you can choose a living creature within sight and know its creature type, ethnicity (if any), and alignment. Additionally, for a number of hours equal to your character level, that creature is treated as though you had cast the spell status upon it. Though unaware of your probing, the target can attempt a Will saving throw to negate this ability (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier). Spells such as undetectable alignment may prevent a portion of this information from being gleaned, while spells such as nondetection stymie this effect entirely. This is a divination effect. 3: End Superstition (Sp) Once per day, you can cast mage’s disjunction, using your character level as your caster level. Order of the Pyre Source PCS:PotH Hell Knights of the Order of the Pyre seek to combat outlandish faiths and beliefs, preventing them from gaining purchase in the Inner Sea region. They are cult hunters first and foremost, but also fight to repress other philosophies they deem dangerous. These Hell Knights hate and vocally condemn cultists, priests of rare religions, and followers of mystical orders. Leader: Pyre Lord Ebrim Symbol: tower rising from flames Members: atheists, former cultists, members of mainstream religions, victims of dangerous radicals Armour Features: bladed armor, horned and skull-like helm Favoured Weapon: longsword Reckoning: Burn yourself over an open flame. Once per day as an immediate action, you can gain fire resistance 10 for 10 minutes. This does not stack with resist energy or any other abilities that provide fire resistance and overlaps with protection from energy. Tenants * I will not tolerate the weight of unfit gods upon mortal shoulders. * My fire will burn those thickets of philosophy that crowd the path of progress. * Blasphemy knows no borders—land or sea. I will pursue it where I must, and where I find it, I will be relentless. * Zealots walk the path of destruction, regardless of the names on their lips. * I will not mistake clever trickery for power or power for divinity. * Manipulators of divine magic and esoteric eldritch powers must prove their trustworthiness to me, for trust breeds dangerous complacency. * I will focus my iron scrutiny on any faith I find appealing. Whatever I worship must be worthy of me. BOONS 1: Favoured Cult (Ex) You can hone your skills to become a bane to those who worship a divinity you hate. Each day while performing your obedience, choose a divine power that grants four or fewer domains. You gain +2 bonus on Intimidate, Knowledge, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against those who worship that power. Additionally, you get a +1 bonus on weapon attack rolls and weapon damage rolls against the worshipers of that deity. 2: Immolation (Sp) You can channel your wrath into power that can scorch your foes. Once per day, you can cast delayed blast fireball using your character level as your caster level. 3: Quell Zealotry (Su) You can tear the divine power from the grasp of those who would use it to stand against you. Once per day as a standard action, you can target a divine spellcaster within 100 feet. If your target fails a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma bonus), it loses access to any spellcasting and all the supernatural and spell-like abilities it gains from any of its divine spellcasting classes for a number of rounds equal to half your character level. When a creature under the effects of this ability tries to use an ability to which it no longer has access, instead of its god’s favor, it feels only a profound, black emptiness, as if its deity no longer existed. Order of the Rack Order of the Rack Hell Knights hate wastefulness of both thought and deed. They crush pointless dreams, end rebellions, and trample frivolous or dangerous inventions. They also closely observe individuals, seeking hints of destructive ambitions and wasteful vices, and are skilled at destroying seditious writing and strange inventions. Leader: Lectril Sabasta, Lord of the Iron Rack Symbol: a spiked wheel Members: denigration of art and poetry, patriots, technology-haters, traditionalists Armour Features: spiked design, no helm, flayed cloak from the waist down Favoured Weapon: longsword or whip Reckoning: Endure internal burns. Gain a +4 bonus on Fortitude saving throws to resist poison. This increases to +6 against ingested poisons. Tenants * I will seek the chaos that manifests in common words and thoughts. * Those who lack direction will find guidance by my hand—whether the palm or the fist. * I will take the tools from the grasp of those who would craft their own dooms, whether they would do so intentionally or unintentionally. * Though the flag of no nation has my alliance, every rebel is my foe. * My discipline is the same as my honor. I will make myself worthy of our brethren’s tradition of greatness. * My mere presence will represent the pinnacle of orderliness. I will save my words and deeds for when they are needed most. * I will not allow the shedding of tears to rust the wheels of progress. BOONS 1: Mute (Su) Three times per day as a standard action, you can target a single creature within 100 feet. If the creature fails a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier), the creature cannot make any sounds for a number of rounds equal to your character level. This prevents the target from speaking, otherwise making noise, casting spells with verbal components, and using similar abilities with auditory effects. Each round on its turn, the target can attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This effect is dismissable. It does not make the target immune to sonic or language-based attacks, spells, or effects. 2: Dismantle (Su) Once per day as a standard action, you can cause a cloud of thick, brown fog to arise from a chosen point within 200 feet. This cloud functions as per fog cloud, using your character level as your caster level, except the fog spreads in a 10-foot radius, and every creature or object within is affected as per rusting grasp, without any touch attacks required. Attended metal objects, including weapons and armor, receive a Fortitude saving throw to negate this effect using their wielder’s Fortitude saving throw bonus (DC = 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier). Creatures within the cloud are affected by the rusting effect only once, not every round, but creatures that move back into the area are exposed again. You and your possessions can enter the cloud and not be affected. This effect is dismissable. 3: Ruin (Sp) Once per day as a standard action, you can use greater shout as a spell-like ability (DC = 18 + your Charisma modifier). Order of the Scourge Hell Knights of the Scourge seek out corruption within order and laws not fit for the lawful. They question and seek to determine the difference between what is legal and what is for the greater good—owing allegiance to no one nation or ruler. Their quests for order often take them places that other Hell Knights cannot tread, both physically and philosophically. As a result, their commitment to the Measure and the Chain must be beyond reproach. Leader: Scourge Lord Scarmanderus who resides on the Isle of the Lion Lord Symbol: star of bleeding lashes Members: constables, informants, the poor, victims of organised crime Armour Features: serrated breastplate, horned helm Favoured Weapon: heavy mace, scourge, or whip Reckoning: Lash yourself with a scourge or whip. Take 1 fewer point of bleed damage per round when you are affected by an ability or effect that causes bleed damage and gain a +4 bonus on Heal checks to stop bleeding. Tenants * I will hunt down those who pervert the law to serve selfish ends. * Laws are not lawful merely by virtue of being laws; they must be examined lest they be corrupted. * Those who don’t fear justice will fear me. * A broken law is a broken vow, and penance must be paid in blood. * My fist will strike only the enemies of order, not their neighbors if they are innocents. * I will be mindful of danger, for every street and hall is a battlefield. * In my armor or without it, I am first and always a Hell Knight. BOONS 1: Spill Guilty Blood (Sp) The end of a lawbreaker invigorates you like nothing else. Twice per day, you can cast death knell as a spell-like ability, using your character level as your caster level (DC = 12 + your Charisma modifier). If you do not have a caster level, instead of a +1 increase in effective caster level, this ability provides you a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls for 10 minutes per Hit Die of the target. If you have a caster level, you can choose to gain this bonus on attack and damage rolls instead of to your effective caster level. 2: Terrible Justice (Sp) You end a foe’s life with a brutal display of force. Three times per day, when you perform a coup de grace, all foes within 30 feet must succeed at a Will saving throw or be affected as per the spell fear (DC = 14 + your Charisma modifier). 3: Reason to Fear (Su) You fear nothing, as you know you are a source of nightmares. You are immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Three times per day, when you are the target of a fear effect or within a fear effect’s area, you can target the creature from which the fear effect originated with a phantasmal killer spell effect (DC = 14 + your Charisma modifier) as a free action when you strike it with a weapon. You must deal at least 1 point of damage to use this ability. This functions in all other ways as if your weapon were a spell storing''weapon with a ''phantasmal killer spell stored within. Order of the Coil Among the smallest Hell Knight factions, the Order of the Coil viciously seek to tame tribal natives and put an end to their backward pollution of the outside world. Seeing the efforts of scholars and adventurers—particularly Pathfinders—as spreading a disease of savagery by carrying curios from the jungles into the world beyond, the Coil hunts down and destroys such explorers and artifacts, notorious for ending these perceived corruptions with poison and flames. Leader: Ultranok, Lord of the Coil Analogous Order: Order of the Nail Symbol: headless snake circling three drops of poison Members: colonialists, imperialists, racists Armour Features: fanged helmet, snakelike visage on breastplate Favoured Weapon: greataxe Reckoning: bite your own flesh Order of the Glyph Source PCS:PotH The Order of the Glyph was formed in the aftermath of a civil war. The order was created in order to safeguard the true history of their homeland, unaugmented by propaganda and the manipulation of fact. Leader: Elslain Svas, Glyph Lord Analagous Order: Order of the Pyre Symbol: runed padlock encircled by a chain Members: archivists, cultists Armor Features: serpentine designs and tower shields Favored Weapon: battleaxe Reckoning: ingest smoldering ashes Lord King Knight of Dorginscel Ruler over all the other knights and Dorginscel, only below Zariel herself Category:Rules Category:Lore Category:PreReckoning Category:Dorginscel Category:Gotmair